Doubting God's Promises

Well, if you have your Bibles with you, open them to Exodus chapter fourteen. Exodus chapter fourteen. As we now approach the Red Sea and arguably the most renowned miracle in the Bible, aside from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there are very few things that are known by more people, recognized by more people than the parting of the Red Sea. This is probably due in large part to Cecil B. DeMille's treatment in the Ten Commandments and the fact that early on in movie making history people got to have a visual of this event unlike anything that they had experienced before. In regard to biblical miracles being accomplished, but this ranks up there with with Noah's flood in terms of the sheer spectacular nature of what happened. But many Christians find the miracle accounts in the Bible inaccessible, if not unrealistic. The thinking goes something like this, we don't experience these types of miracles in our own lives, therefore we can't relate. I don't see forty days and forty nights global flood in my life, so I can't really relate. I don't I don't see fire and brimstone coming down as in Sodom and Gomora. Therefore, I can't relate. I don't I don't see seas parting, and therefore I can't really relate. So how can I apply something like this to my own experience? Several things are important to remember here. First, not even the people in the Bible experienced miracles regularly. In fact, most of the people you read about in the Bible didn't experience miracles in their lives. Secondly, the miracles in the Bible were spread out over thousands of years, which is why most of the people in Biblical times never experienced miracles. And Three, the miracles in the Bible are about more than just their immediate impact. They each teach us something about God. These miracles that we see in the scriptures were purposeful. They happened for a reason, not just to overcome whatever the immediate obstacle was, but in order to communicate something more significant and lasting than that. For example, how many of us can relate to this story. Imagine someone telling this story and ask yourself if that someone could possibly be you. I became a Christian many years ago, and God delivered me from a lifestyle of sin and from a number of particular sins. However, as I walked away from my sin, it would sometimes come back. It was as though my sin didn't want me to go. At times, I even thought it had me. I felt like my situation was hopeless, like I wasn't really delivered at all. I would even ask myself if it was really worth it, If I'm honest, I sometimes ask myself if God was really there, if he was really enough, or if I was really saved. As again and again and again, this sin that I believed that I had overcome would reach out to grab me once again, would come to get me once again. And as it came for me, I found myself at times, if I'm really honest, even appreciating the fact that my sin was once more coming after me. Does that sound familiar to anyone, Folks, have you been slaved longer than a month? That absolutely sounds familiar to you. By the way, that's not an individual's story. That's Israel's story Exodus chapter fourteen, because that's precisely what's happening here. They've been delivered. And remember, the Exodus becomes sort of the symbol of deliverance of God's people from sin, and as they've been delivered, and they find themselves walking away. All of a sudden, that which held them captive determines to come after them again. And as they look up to see that which held them captive determined to come and take them away again, they grumble, they murmur, they question God, they question their deliverance, and even resign themselves to just lay down and die. This is a microcosm of the Christian experience at various times. This is a microcosm of our continue you struggle with sin. This is a microcosm of the battle that we fight on a regular and ongoing basis. This is a microcosm of what God is doing as he delivers each and every one of us from our sin and to glory. Salvation has been achieved, and it is being achieved, and it is going to be achieved. Your salvation past tense, you are justified, you have been declared righteous. Your salvation present tense, you are being sanctified. You are progressively being delivered from sin, and that sin does not want to let you go, and you do not want to let your sin go, which is why we anxiously anticipate that time when we will ultimately and completely be delivered from our sin in glorification, when we are finally there and it is finally done and we are no longer subject to these temptations anymore. Is anybody looking forward to that? Amen? But in the meantime, there are those days where we look up and here come the Egyptians, and we're not all that certain that we don't want them to get us, because we're tired, because the struggle is hard, because we remember certain things that brought us comfort, and deep down in those places that we don't talk about in Sunday School, we want that comfort. Sometimes we want that pleasure. Sometimes we want that familiarity. Sometimes it's ironic, but you ever wonder. I can remember, you know, being in college, and I remember having to assist certain friends of mind on certain nights when they partook of certain things and excess, and certainly you know, they're bowing before the porcelain God, as we would put it, and they're there as sick as they can be, always saying the same thing, I'm never going to do this again. And you sit there and you go, it's funny, But I heard you say this just a couple of weeks ago. So it's not just that sometimes we yearn for the pleasure, but sometimes, in a very sick way, we yearn for the misery as well. You ever listen to some people as they talk about their sin, and what they smile at and laugh at is the misery that it, as though even the misery of it brings them comfort. Oh beloved, don't you think for a moment that Exodus chapter fourteen doesn't apply to you. It absolutely does. But as it applies to you, here's how I want you to understand the application. I want you to understand that it gives you a bird's eye view of what's happening in this process as God is delivering you. Because when we're experiencing it, we're not thinking about this perspective. When we're experiencing it, all we know is that we are between a rock and a wet place, and the Egyptians are bearing down on us, and there appears to be nowhere left to go. That's all we see. That's all Israel could see. All Israel could see was where they were. All Isra could see was that there was no way out. All Israel could see was that it was not possible for them to deliver themselves or for anyone else, for that matter, to deliver them. All they knew was these people, who were obviously upset with them, who never wanted to let them go in the first place, were finally coming to reclaim what was theirs, and there was nothing they could do about it. But if they could see this from God's perspective, it would look quite different, and there was one who could. Moses stood there and did not have the same experience that every other Israelite had, because Moses had been let in on the divine perspective. Look at the first four verses, and first we see that what was happening was part of a sovereign decree Verses one through four. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi Hahiroth, between Migdahl and the sea, in the front of bale Zafahan. You shall en camp facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, and they did so. This is part of a sovereign decree. Again, you're standing there and all you see is the Egyptians are coming. You don't understand it from God's perspective. Here's the way we experience It's the world. When something like this happens and it doesn't go according to plan, and it looks like things are about to take a turn for the worst. Your automatic assumption at that moment is God let this one slip by. If you can't say a man, you ought to say ouch. That's your automatic assumption. God didn't see this one coming. God wasn't prepared for this, God wasn't powerful enough to stop this, or he just doesn't like me anymore. This is the way we interpret reality like this in the moment when you see it coming and it looks like this terrible thing is about to befall you. However, what Moses knew that the rest of Israel didn't was that this was part of a sovereign decree. That this was not happening by accident, but like everything else in the world, it happened because of God's sovereign decree. Listen to the words that he uses here. The definitive nature of God's statements. You shall in camp Pharaoh will say, I will harden Pharaoh's heart, he will pursue them, I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Those are definitive statements. In other words, God does not come to Moses and say, Moses, don't panic, but I just noticed that Pharaoh and the Egyptians are coming. I'm gonna try to work something out. You just told that. That is not the way God says this. God says to Moses beforehand, this is what's going to happen, and here's why it's going to happen, and here's how it's going to happen. He's even specific as aware the specific nature of his state. In front of Pyrath, between Migdall and the sea, in front of Belle Safan, you show in camp facing it. This is amazing. And I've had the privilege on a number of occasions of standing in different places in Israel where you're able to say X marks the spot, and the reason that there are so many places like that in the land of Israel where you can say X marks the spot is because of things like this between here and here facing that way, and there are a number of those places where you can walk there and you can say here, it is right here because you're between this point and that point and you're facing that way. X marks the spot. Here's where it happened. The Bible is clear like that because God is clear like that. What are the implications of this, folks, to God who delivers us in control of every detail. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. The God who delivers Us is in control of every detail. Secondly, there's nothing that Satan can do to thwartoise plan. That's the other thing that we need to keep in mind. God is in control of every detail. There's nothing Satan can do to the Towarta's plan. By the way, it's hard when the Egyptians are bearing down on you and you're between again the Egyptians and the sea with nowhere to run. It's hard to remember these things, which is why you need to remember them now. Amen. We need to rehearse them over and over and over again, so that when the Egyptians bear down, the answer is already clear. Job forty two to two. I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You need to know that saints, no purpose of Gods can be thwarted. Satan cannot forart the decrees of God. Satan cannot fort the plans of God Psalm one thirty five six. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the sea and all deeps. Whatever God pleases, he does. God doesn't do anything because he's being forced to. Whatever God pleases he does. God doesn't do anything because he's trying to make up for his mistakes. God doesn't make mistakes. Whatever he pleases, he does Ecclesiastes eight three. Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. In other words, don't oppose God because you can't win. I remember an old say, and sometimes we sort of say it in jest around the house. Your arms are too short to box with God. Amen. That's just good, isn't it. You're gonna remember that and you're gonna say it at home. I promise your arms are too short to box with God. You can't. You can't. It's not possible for God to be defeated, It's not possible for His plans to be thwarted. Hardly, remember this, There is nothing that can separate us from God's saving love. Nothing nothing. The Egyptians needed to know this, or the Israelites needed to know this. You need to know this. You need to know this because there are days when you doubt this, just like they did Romans eight thirty five to thirty nine. It's so familiar to us, but I frankly don't care. I'm reading it anyway because I need it. I always need it. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or disease or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, or the Egyptians or Pharaoh or his chariots or his horses, or the list could go on and on and on, as it is written. For your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ, Jesus our Lord, nothing nothing. In other words, what that means is God didn't bring Israel out of Egypt hoping he could save them. He brought Israel out of Egypt knowing that he would save them. God didn't bring you out of your situation hoping that he could save you. He brought you out of it knowing that he would save you. For all of those who have put their faith in God and in His work through the person of Jesus Christ, know this. God is not hoping that he can save you on that day. God knows that he will save you on that day. This is our God. This is the God God in whom we trust. This is the God to whom we have given ourselves, and we can know that he is able to guard that which we have entrusted with him against that day his sovereign decree. But what does this mean? What if we don't cooperate with his sovereign decree? What if the evil one doesn't cooperate with his sovereign decree? Folks, did you hear what I just told you? Why are you asking me that if I just told you that he does whatever he pleases, why would you ask me that question. The providential response, though, needs to be understood. There's a difference between sovereignty and providence, between his decree and his providence. His decree, that's his sovereign dec that's his authority by which he decrees everything whatsoever comes to pass. His providence is the means by which he works those things out. Look at verses five through nine. Before we look at that, let me define this for you a little bit more. Let me define it first from our Confession sixteen eighty nine, the chapter on Providence defines it this way, God, the good creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy. John Gill, famous Baptist theologian, puts it this way, Providence by which all the creatures God has made are preserved, governed, guided, and directed. The word itself is never used of the divine being syllabically or in so many syllables in scripture. Yet the thing itself, or what is meant by it is fully declared and clearly expressed as that God upholds all things by his power, governs the world by his wisdom, looks down upon the earth, takes notice and care of all his creatures in it, and makes provision for them, and guides and directs them to answer the ends for which they were made. Which is the sum and substance of providence. And I think when Grudom puts it even more plainly, we may define God's providence as follows. God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he wants all created things, not just those that are in submission to Him, but every created thing. God's providence doesn't just cover Christians. God's providence covers Christians non Christians alike. Every created thing is governed by God's providence so that He won keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which He created them. That's why things stay what they are. That's God's providence. It's God's providence. By the way, that's why we can do science. We can study birds because birds won't turn into something else. I don't care what the evolutionists have told you. We can study primates. Primates don't turn into something else. Two cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do. So he keeps things being what they are and doing what they do. And three directs them to fulfill his purpose. Now, with that in mind, look first with the Egyptians and how they respond and verses five through nine. When the King of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servant was changed toward the people, and they said, what is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel. And while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them and camped by the sea at Pihaharath in front of bal Zafhan. So what happened. Did Pharaoh go into a trance and did God all of a sudden make Pharaoh the enemy of the Israelites. No, he didn't, No, he didn't. He continued to be who he was. This is absolutely in keeping with who Pharaoh has always been. God didn't have to make him be like this. But in the providence of God, this Pharaoh was Pharaoh when these events took place, so that he, being who he was, would respond in this exact way, because that is what God decreed in order to maximize his glory in these events. This is important for a number of reasons, first of which is this, Oftentimes we believe that if people will just have the right kind of experience, that that's what they need to bring him to God. If they just if they just experienced tragedy, if they just experience, if they just if something would just happen, if God would just do abc or X, y Z, then this person would change, and they would come to God, and sometimes tragedy will strike and you'll see an amendment of behavior. I've talked frequently about the Post nine to eleven quote unquote revival nine to eleven took place, and after that the Fall of the rest of the Fall of two thousand and one, church attendants bumped up significantly in the United States. Not only did church attendants bump up significantly, but also elected officials were quoting scripture and talking about God. People were getting away with things that they never got away with before that. Christmas. You know, the ACLU and the Citizens United for the Separation of Church and State weren't nearly as active in saying you can't do that. And there are displays all over the place, and there are a lot of people who refer to this Post nine to eleven revival. Because there was an amendment of people's behavior, people spoke to one another with greater kindness on the streets. There was more patriotism than we'd ever experienced before. It was an amazing thing for a few months, and then everything went right back to the way it was. Church attendants went right back down to where it was. For people's antagonism toward God resumed their normal levels. This is what happened with Pharaoh. All these plagues come, one after the other after the other, and they break him down, but every time his heart is hardened again. And finally the plague of plagues comes the death of the firstborn, and it breaks him, but it doesn't change his heart. He's still the same man. And he lets Israel go. And eventually, when his grief turns back to rage, he girds himself up, he gets his army together, and he says, what was I thinking? Go kill them all. See, don't confuse the amendment of an individual's behavior with an actual change of heart. Don't confuse the individual who gets tired of fighting against God with the individual who's actually been born again and now loves God. Pharaoh was tired, he was weary, and he was defeated, but he was not changed. I wonder if there are Pharaohs among us. I wonder if there are individuals even here under the sound of my voice. And there are things in your life and circumstances in your life that turned you toward God. And these circumstances that turns you toward God no longer present in your life or active in your life. And yet since you turned toward God, it just seemed to you that the right thing to do was to continue in this vein. But there has been no change of heart. You are still the same individual. You are still as outside of the camp as you ever were. Yet you have learned how to be comfortable in this circumstance, and in this setting. You've not been born again. You've not been transformed. You have not been united to Christ in his death and in his resurrection. You have merely learned to amend your life by keeping a few rules. So you appear outwardly to be holy, and yet on the inside you still rage against God, but you have no idea what to do with it. The answer is repent. The answer is acknowledge your sin. The answer is to flee to Christ. The answer is to run to the cross and see your sin nailed there. There's also the providential response of Israel. Notice that Israel is still who they were. We see that in verses ten to twelve. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly, And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness. What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Notice the savings here. The people feared greatly, that people cried out to God. The people expected to die. This is Israel, and this is some of you, and this is sometimes met Something happens in all of a sudden, we lose our minds. Something happens, and all of a sudden, even if just for a brief moment, we believe and hold on to this idea that God saved me just so he could bring me to this point and embarrass me. Or God saved me just so that he could get my hopes up and disappoint me because he doesn't really like me. God saves me, but now he's forgotten about me. God saves me, but he doesn't love me as much as he loves other people. Because look at how easy it is for them and how hard it is for me. You know what the problem is twofold number one. You've forgotten your deliverance. Think. Think about what has happened coming up to this point. Think about all that God has done in order to identify Israel as his own, in order order to deliver Israel after hundreds of years out of Egypt. Think about everything that God has done. And now there are some hoof beats, some horse is on the way, and all of a sudden we believe that the God who controls the Nile and the locusts and the flies, and the sun and the stars and the death Angel has suddenly run out of power. Ah, but not this. I know that he can do that, but not this. I know that he can deal with those things, but not this. I know he can deal with everybody else's problems, but not mine. I know that there are other Christians who can find comfort. But there's never been a Christian in the history of the world who's been hurt as much as I'm hurting right now. And there's no way that God has enough comfort to help me. No one's ever blown it as bad as I just blew it. And the blood of Jesus may cover other sins people throughout the history of the known world, but there's never been anyone who blew it like I blew it. And I'm sure that God didn't have this sin in mind when Jesus went to the cross. This is us. You let a few Egyptians show up, and all of a sudden, our faith is gone. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch, this is us, folks. That heartache comes, that disappointment comes, that failure comes, that sin raises its ugly head again, and all of a sudden, all we can see is the Egyptians, and we do not see the God who has dealt with them again and again and again. Here's what we need to remember. And here's where we get off track, folks. God did not save Israel because of their great faith. And if you ever wondered about that, here's your answer right here. If there was ever any question, this settles it right here. God did not save these people because of their great faith. Not these individuals. Oh no, huh, huh, here they come. Oh oh, you brought us out here. We couldn't die over there. We had to come die over here, right We could have just stayed. We could have just stayed slaves in Egypt. Wait a minute, you're the same people who were crying out to God begging him to get you out of Egypt, and now a few horses come close, and you're saying, yeah, we should have just stayed there and died. He didn't save them because of their great faith. Amen. Secondly, he didn't save them because of their holiness. This is not a holy people, not by themselves. He didn't save him because they're holy. He saved him and made them holy. Amen. God's actions were not dependent upon Israel at all. But God did this for his own sake and for his own glory. And one of the reasons that he chose Israel was because they're not Egypt. In other words, if God, in his sovereignty, settles his love on the most powerful nation in the world, people see the success of that nation and they say it's because of horses and chariots. But if God sets his love upon a slave people who have no power and exist in small numbers, and they become the most significant people in the world, the only answer is God's on their side. That's the answer. But why is this important in light of God's providence in your life in these difficult circumstances. Here's why it's important. Because if God saved me for his own glory and not because of my faith, not because of my holiness, not because of my goodness, not because of my intellect, then when difficulty comes my way, it's God's problem. Amen, the Egyptians are coming. We got a problem. H God's got a problem because God's the one who delivered us from them. So God's the one who's got to deal with them, and he will, he will, he will. But you know when I believe he won't. When I believe he won't is when I believe that my deliverance and my salvation are contingent upon me being worthy of it. And so now all of a sudden, I hear the sound of chariots coming, and I say, yep, I didn't have as much faith as I needed to. Now he's gonna. Now he's gonna let the chariots get me. Yep, I only kept nine of the things on my holiness list instead of ten. Now he's gonna let the Egyptians kill me. You didn't save yourself, and you can't keep yourself. God is the one who keeps his people. God was the one keeping Israel. There's no way in the world for them to defeat the Egyptians. And that's the whole point. Finally, there is the prophetic declaration, and this is crucial. Verses thirteen and fourteen. Moses said to the people again, Remember he's got a little insight on this. Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. That's a sermon right there in itself, is it not. There's your three points. You want to preach something. Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. Why for the Egyptians you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. Fear not, stand firm, watch God. Shut up. There It is right there there, It is right there. Can't believe he brought us out here. We had die. We gonna die over there. Now we gonna die over here. And I didn't want to listen to you. I didn't just stay. I didn't just fear not watch God, stand firm, and please shut up. This is how we know that God has acted, because he has his prophet tell us that he's acting. And this is how we know why God has acted, because he has his prophet tell us that he acted. See, folks, if God just acted but there was no profit to tell us, if he just acted but he never gave us his word to explain, then we'd be like the rest of the world. Every culture has a religious explanation for the way the world works. Every culture. That's why there have been people throughout history who have thrown virgins into volcanoes, or beheaded their enemies and tossed their heads down the stairs of their wonderful religious monuments. This is why people have eaten the hearts of their adversaries. This is why people have done rain dances, This is why people have done a whole host of other things. Because you look at the world, you see what happens, and without the word of God, all you have is your own assumptions as to why things are happening the way they are, and so you do the best you can with what you have, and you try to appease the gods, and you try to control nature. Yet this is not the way God has dealt with his people. God has revealed himself in his word. All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching and rebuking and training in righteousness, that the Man of God may be thoroughly furnished for every good work. It's the word of God. It's the word of God. This is important because unfortunately many Christians still try to operate as though we don't have the Word of God. And so an event happens in your life and you close your eyes and say, oh, to try to figure out what it is that God is saying to you through the events, that's paganism. That's paganism. That's not biblical Christianity. That's paganism. God did not call the Egyptians or the Israelites to sit there, close their eyes and think real hard about what he was trying to say to them through these events. He had his prophet, and his prophet said, have faith, fear not watch God. Shut up, and now, oh, by the way, turn around, and let's walk. Because God did that, and he told you beforehand that he was going to deliver you out of the hands of the Egyptians, and that he was going to wipe them out so that they would know that God is God, so that you will know that God is God. So that you are not tempted to worship and serve another God. And folks, this is the key. God doesn't want Israel to worship the Egyptian gods. God doesn't want Israel to worshipes Moses. God doesn't want Israel to worship his staff. God wants Israel to worship God. So he communicates clearly to his people through his prophets, Here's who I am, here's what I'm doing, and here's why, and here's how I expect you to respond. And this is why we worship in accordance with what we find in the Word of God. God hasn't even called us to figure out on our own how we respond to his deliverance. God even tells us in his word how we're to respond to his deliverance. Here's how you respond to the way that I've delivered you. So God delivers us through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And then he doesn't leave us and say, Okay, Jesus has saved you by his blood. Now do the best you can to figure out how you can say thank you to me. No, he tells us what to do, He tells us what to observe. He tells us that we're to give attention to the public reading of his word. He tells us that we're to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual psalms. He tells us that we're to pray. He tells us that there's to be preaching. He tells us that we're to observe the Lord's table. He tells us these things, and he tells us that we're to do it one day and seven, over and over and over and over again, so that when we gather, we are responding to God in the way that God has commanded that we respet to him, so that we can know we're giving to him exactly what he desires and deserves. We don't have to be innovative, and in fact, when we attempt to be innovative, basically what we're doing is when we attempt to be innovative in worship, we're like this husband. We're like the husband who says this. I know she has told me ninety seven times that this is what she likes. And I know that every time that I do what she has told me ninety seven times that she likes, that she really likes what she says she likes. However, this is the ninety eighth time. So I'm going to do something that she hasn't told me that she likes, which she's kind of indicated that she doesn't really like at all. But because I'm being innovative, I'm sure she'll be blown away. And again, man, if you can't say amen, you ought to say out. And then we get offended when we come on the ninety eight time and do that innovative thing that we kind of know she doesn't really like. But we're tired of doing the thing that she likes, and we come to her and her response is, oh, and now we're offended. Why, Well, because you're supposed to like what you don't like. This is the church. Unfortunately, in worship in many instances, I know that God has told us clearly in his word what worship is. But I believe that we can give him something that will blow his mind. We can go above and beyond that which the God of the universe expects in worship. We're gonna be innovative. No, we're gonna do what he says the way he says it, because he says it because God delivers his people so that they might worship him rightly. For his deliverance. You see the next time you hear the hoofs of horses, the next time the Egyptians get so close that you can almost see the whites of their eyes, The next time that you are tempted to throw up your hands and to lay down and wait for somebody to put dirt on you. The next time you are tempted to shake your fist at God because he delivered you only to disappoint you. Now remember there has been a sovereign decree, and that nothing is happening by accident. Remember that this is God's providential plan, and He is working out your salvation in accordance with that which will bring him maximum glory, not necessarily that which will bring you maximum comfort. And remember, if you have questions or doubts about why God does what he does the way he does, you don't find it by closing your eyes, smoking some peote and thinking real hard about it. You find it by searching his word. Because he has spoken, he has done so authoritatively, and he has done so completely as it relates to your salvation and mine. There's nothing that befalls you that his word doesn't explain to you. And the next time you wonder whether or not He really loves you, or whether or not he just brought you out here so that he could bury you by the sea. Remind yourself that, as you see your Egyptians coming towards you, that God didn't del deliver you by putting to death somebody else's first born. He delivered you with the death of his own firstborn. So if you want to know whether or not God really loves you, don't look at your own heart, don't look at your own circumstances, don't look at your own pain, and don't look at your own fears. If you want to know whether God really loves you, you look at the cross. And I double dog dare you to look at the cross and question God's love, whatever you're experiencing, whatever you're going through. I guarantee you, saints, you look at the cross where your deliverance was purchased. And you may not have all the answers as to why you enduring this right now, but what you will have is the answer to this question, can God deliver? And the answer is a resounding yes, it can deliver because He had has delivered and he will deliver. This is the assurance that his hours in Christ. Let's pray, Oh God, how we thank you for your mercy and your kindness, and your patience and your long suffering with us. How we thank you for the countless ways that you have reminded us of your goodness and of your deliverance, The countless ways that you have demonstrated your patience, the countless ways that you have reassured us of your love. Reminded us that greater love has no man than this, that he laid down his life or his friends. Reminded us that you demonstrated your love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinnered, Christ died for us, reminding us that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son, so that all the believing ones may not perish, but may have everlasting life by your grace, that we might look to this love as opposed to merely looking to our own circumstances. Father, I lift up those under the sound of my voice who have heard the hoof beats and the rolling wheels of chariots in their lives this week, who have seen the Egyptians so close that it seemed that there was no way out. Grant by your grace that they would be reminded today that you are not a God who delivers partially, and you are not a God who delivers only to disappoint. Remind us all today that your deliverance is about your glory, and grant by your grace that we might hold to this truth, that we might walk in this truth, and that we might be conformed to this truth. This we pray for Christ's sake and in his name, Amen, We've come